Thursday, November 24, 2016

AURAK Launches Innovation Week Program

The
American University of Ras Al Khaimah (AURAK) has launched its
comprehensive program for the second annual Innovation Week initiative,
as decreed by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE
Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai.

The
university held an innovation competition for students earlier this
month, giving them the opportunity to put forward their projects, the
best of which have been selected for display at this week’s innovation
exhibition at Ras Al Khaimah Exhibition Center.

The
winning project was a mobile phone application, available on iPhone and
Android, which utilizes QR code technology which allows users to
exchange jigsaw pieces in order to complete a picture. With the UAE
National Day approaching, the first jigsaw that creators, Aisha El Allam
and Maryam Abdulla, coded into the application was a picture of the
seven sheikhs of the seven emirates.

Speaking of their
inspiration for creating the app, which was under the supervision of Dr.
Said Elnaffar, Aisha commented, “We all love and appreciate the peace
and prosperity that the UAE offers us, so we created this app with the
intention of allowing people to connect and socialize based on their
mutual love for this country. The app was also designed so that people
have to physically meet and talk to each other, rather than
‘socializing’ in cyberspace.”

The second place project,
overseen by mentor Dr. Abdul Gafoor Puthiyaveetil, was produced by two
junior biotechnology students: Najath Abdulkareem and Nada Anwar. With
the rapidly increasing population of the planet, they reasoned, food
production is more important than ever. Their adapted idea, vertical
farming, deals with growing food indoors on a tiered platform using a
combination of sunlight and LED lights. The layout maximizes efficiency
through reusing water and saving space. The pair of students have
successfully grown the likes of basil, parsley, rosemary and mint within
their own homes.

A number of other projects were also
on display, including a conceptual design for a smartphone screen which
can produce text in braille to assist the visually impaired, as well as
an innovative teaching method based on sensory stimulation which has had
positive results in the field of special needs education. The projects
were viewed by the crown prince of Ras Al Khaimah, H. H. Sheikh Mohammad
bin Saud Al Qassimi, who congratulated the students on their
inventiveness.

Commenting at the event, AURAK
president, Professor Hassan Hamdan Al Alkim, commented, “This is a great
opportunity to demonstrate to the community the extent of the
innovation and research going on at the university. We are producing
knowledge in all fields and we have students, who are aided by top-class
professors, who are being given the opportunity to actively participate
in this process.”